Metro News & Reviews

Joint timetable for Southern California trains

Railroads in Southern California want to keep promoting the new joint timetable that debuted earlier this year. It’s the first time the timetables for Amtrak, Metrolink and the Coaster in San Diego County have been put in a single timetable.

Paper versions will also soon be available on trains throughout Southern California.

While this is a great idea and long overdue, the problem is that this version of the schedule is already out of date given the changes in train service that took place in October (for example, with Metrolink on weekends for the Orange County routes). Unless the agency that publishes this schedule commits to keeping it up to date, it will cause more frustration on the part of riders and potential riders than simply relying on using the individual carrier schedules and their public information lines / individual internet websites to put together one’s own itinerary. However in many cases that is not easy to do for a rider unfamiliar with the individual systems. Perhaps a MUCH MORE prominent disclaimer should be put in the schedule to always call or check the carriers involved to make sure the schedule in the published joint timetable is correct!

Could we get a consolidated fare chart too? All these agencies have different fare policies so it’s so confusing to navigate and figure out if its actually worth it to travel by rail or which agencies gives me the best deal.